The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition

by Alicia J. Chumney

  “Wait, wasn’t he the person who…” Charlotte slowly remembered. “Brady pushed his younger sister out of the road when a car was heading right for her. He took the hit and had a broken arm during baseball season because of it. His sister, Kelly, had the worst case of hero worship, swearing that he saved her life, and he probably did since she was a little slip of a thing. She would follow him around everywhere the next year when you both entered high school. I think she even wandered into the boys’ locker room one time because she wasn’t watching where she was going.”

  Delilah tilted her head in thought as she pondered what Charlotte had just revealed. She could barely remember that accident, but that was also the year that their Mother had left and she was a little wrapped up with other things like hiding all of the pictures so that their father would stop throwing things on the grill and lighting them on fire.

  “She still needs to calm down; she’s been scaring all of his girlfriends away.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  True to her threat, Charlotte explored the depths of Delilah’s closet while Delilah showed her new clothes to her best friend, Grace Chandler. “Then they forced me over to the makeup department and bought all of this crap.”

  “At least we showed you how to put it on. I had to learn it the hard way before Samantha realized what I was trying to do,” Charlotte mumbled from the stack of rejects that she was removing from the closet. She still shuddered whenever she remembered the disastrous smoky eye attempt.

  “They locked me in the bathroom and threatened to drown The House of Seven Gables,” not that it had been much of a threat, “until I sat there and went along with their scheme.”

  “You’ve spent all summer complaining about that book,” Grace whispered. “I’m surprised you would want to save it.”

  Shrugging her shoulders, Delilah pointed out, “Well, it’s still a book.”

  “Now somebody tells us,” Charlotte mumbled. “I knew we should have targeted her mp3 player.” With a final shove, she pushed the trash bag filled with clothes into the hallway. For a moment she was tempted to roll it down the stairs.

  “So, what is the game plan?”

  They both ignored Delilah’s look of panic. Things were becoming all too real.

  Charlotte was the one to answer Grace’s question. “Delilah will look all gorgeous, with my help of course, on Tuesday while she walks right past David and his friends. Hopefully he’ll drop something. It’d be even better if Will Cooper drops something; I remember how girl crazy he was his sophomore year.” Turning to her sister, “I know you and I know how you hate Will for that comment he made about you a few years ago. I really wish David had punched him; he wanted to, but the stupid boy held back.”

  In a small voice, Delilah voiced her biggest fear about the whole plan, “What if this doesn’t work?”

  “It will or David Carver is a bigger idiot than any of us knew and doesn’t deserve you.” Charlotte started to turn to leave the friends to look over the shopping haul. “Remember, don’t just trust him at his word, you have to judge his actions too. I know what it is like to wear a façade and after a while that mask starts getting heavy. Resist until after Thanksgiving if at all possible. If he gives up on you too quickly then David isn’t the person we all thought he was.”

  Softly, Delilah whispered, “We never thought he’d betray me like he did.”

  “Remember, Samantha explained that,” Charlotte stated, sitting down on one of the skirts. “David was lost after his father died. He started spending more and more time with Will because he didn’t have to think around Will and he would have to think around you. Then he started thinking about girls and you were a baggy mess from when Mom left.” Pulling her sister close, “Someday he will wake up and will regret every single moment he didn’t stand up for you. He’ll regret every single second that he lost because he was spending time with the wrong people.” She paused.

  “Remember this, both of you,” Charlotte advised them, standing up to leave, “it does not matter how interested a guy appears to be if he can look at somebody else. Then he isn’t as interested as he thinks he is in somebody. Delilah, it doesn’t matter who David was dating, he always looked in your direction; even when you weren’t there he would look for you. One day you’ll be the only person he’ll ever look at and he won’t be able to look away.” Chuckling, “We all knew that the day he was chasing you around the yard with a hand full of worms.”

  With those parting words, Charlotte went to take the clothes to the donation box so that Delilah wouldn’t try to sneak them back into her room in the middle of the night.

  Delilah waited until she heard the front door shut, “Do you think she’s right?”

  “There’s only one way to find out. If you really want to do this then I’ll help you out. That doesn’t mean that I won’t worry about you.” Grace stood up to hug her best friend, trying her best to keep her worried thoughts out of her eyes. “Now, what are you going to wear to school next week? Pants or a skirt?”

  “Pants of course.”

  Both girls looked up at the cackling sound that they could clearly hear just outside the door. “Good luck finding your pants,” Charlotte called out before running down the stairs.

  Looking down at the bed, both girls realized that the stacks of khaki and navy pants were, in fact, missing.

  Realization filled Delilah’s voice, “They really are going to make me wear my skirts for a full week.”

  Further investigation revealed that all of her ponytail holders were also missing.

  “At least you don’t have to wear your new heels,” Charlotte pointed out.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Resting his forehead against the cool metal of a locker, David Carver wished that the first week of school would end already. This is supposed to be the best year of his high school career. Right. If he had to take another bawdy joke from Will Cooper or one more seductive smile from Aimee Kirkland then he would scream.

  ‘Probably not,’ he reasoned to himself. This was the life he had chosen and he couldn’t back away from it that easily. John and Pete might say otherwise, but David had experienced the perks of popularity for three long years and he might as well make it his entire high school experience. Will and the gang threw the best parties, even if lately they were being broken up by the cops and angry parents. Straightening up, he went back to listening to Will catalog his alleged summer conquests and Aimee rambling about something; he rarely paid much attention to his ex-girlfriend even though she insisted on hanging around as if they had not been broken up since freshmen year. Aimee intended to hold him to his deal.

  David leaned against the locker wall with his ‘friends’ when he saw her. A redhead in a school regulated khaki skirt came walking into the building. It was the second year of having to wear school uniforms, some of the parents had forced the issue, and David was just now thankful for it.

  Dark red hair draped delicately over this girl's shoulders. When was it that he last saw red hair of that particular dark shade of reddish brown? Wasn't Delilah's hair that color? It couldn’t be her; she usually sported a ponytail.

  Dropping his notebook and a few other items, David Carver watched his former best friend and next door neighbor nearly causing a scene as every male in the hallway turned to watch Delilah making her grand entrance.

  Delilah Davis entered their senior year as the person to be considered as the hottest girl in the class if the boys near the door were to put it to a vote. Those Davis genes had definitely paid off for the last daughter.

  For the millionth time he wished that he had made better decisions freshmen year. Popular or not, he still missed her.

  Standing in front of him, Aimee Kirkland normally never noticed when David’s attention wandered off until he failed to answer one of her many questions, but he typically never dropped things either. Glancing back towards where David was looking, she glowered as the plain, ordinary, nothing special bookworm held her ex-boyf
riend’s interest. What did that frizzy haired, freckled, girl-next-door have that could capture his attention so thoroughly? Sure, they were neighbors, but she had made certain that David Carver barely said two words to Delilah Davis since their freshmen year.

  Tugging on her barely long enough school regulation khaki skirt, Aimee succeeded to get Will Cooper’s attention but not David’s. “David? Hello? How about it?”

  “How about what?” Aimee’s mildly high pitched voice jerked him out of his memories and regrets.

  Smiling, she repeated her request. “A party on Friday. A Back-to-School party. I’m sure Peter will supply us with what we need again.”

  “We can’t. The neighbors complained last time when you blocked their driveway.” David glanced over at where Delilah and Grace Chandler chatted.

  Aimee grumbled. “They could have waited for me to move the car. They didn’t have to call the cops.” She glared at Delilah’s back, causing Will to notice the girl for the first time. Huffing, Aimee left the boys to find Kelly and Hannah; they needed to have a ‘meeting.’

  “We talked about this,” David sighed. “They weren’t the ones who called the cops.”

  "Who is that perfect creature?" Will grinned, changing the conversation while trying to determine how long it would take to get under her skirt. He predicted three weeks if it wasn't for the fact that this was the famous bookworm of the Davis family. He couldn't remember her name and strongly wished that he could at that very moment.

  Growling at his best friend, David answered him, "Delilah Davis and hands off; she's my next door neighbor."

  "Why?" Will turned to watch David, eyeing him strangely. David never normally told Will to stay away from somebody.

  "She just is; that's why."

  "She's all yours then; easier access." Will tilted his head as he continued to watch Delilah glide down the hallway. He might have just given up his claim but there was nothing stopping him from looking. Thank goodness for school uniforms.

  Following the direction of Will’s gaze, he felt anger begin to bubble up. "Rot in hell." David slammed his palm against the locker and stalked down the hallway to his homeroom. He didn’t care that he would be more than acceptably early and that he had no right to be angry at Will.

  All summer he hadn’t seen a single Davis daughter, even though Mr. Davis had been seen making repairs around the house. He had heard from John that they were spending the summer in the city with their maternal grandmother. That had been perfect because he didn’t have to worry about his friends insulting Delilah. Not that they did that anymore, but… There were steep costs to being popular and losing a couple of his true friends was one of them. Losing Delilah was his biggest regret even though he’d made that stupid deal with Aimee to protect her.

  David groaned, remembering Delilah in her skirt and the flats that somehow managed to make her already long legs appear to go on for miles. If he wasn’t careful he would be in as much trouble as the rest of the boys were sure to be in as soon as they saw her. These uniforms were supposed to not promote these kinds of thoughts in the guys.

  Smiling sweetly, Delilah Davis sashayed past where the popular boys, including David Carver, were gathered around some lockers. Grace Chandler was waiting at the other end of the hallway, smiling evilly as the girls' plan was working wonderfully. After witnessing the rude way that David had treated his longtime friend and neighbor back during their freshmen year, Grace was more than pleased to watch him drooling over the girl that he had tossed aside and now lost.

  “What is her problem?” Delilah whispered, glancing down the hallway towards where Aimee was glaring at her.

  “I can take a guess,” Grace grinned. “It starts with a D, drives a shiny red car, lives right next door to you, and keeps looking over here.”

  Her best friend merely laughed. “That is insane. We haven’t even spoken two words to each other ever since I told him to move his slutty girlfriend’s car from in front of my driveway.” From behind her Penny Dryer gasped. Turning to her friend, “What? We all know what she was doing with Will in the tree house, including David. I told him exactly where he could find his girlfriend that night.”

  “That is idle gossip, Ms. Delilah, and you know it,” a new voice chimed in. Attached to that voice was Wesley Pitts, local floater. “Besides, David broke up with Amy years ago.”

  “One, I have the picture to prove it and you were there when it happened, Wesley.” Delilah had also made certain that David saw the picture when she demanded that he drag his so-called ex-girlfriend and best friend out of the tree house. “Two, she doesn’t act as if they have broken up, even if she is fooling around with Will when they think nobody is looking.”

  Rolling her eyes, the last member of their little circle finally joined them. “It is too early for gossip and drama,” Jennifer Matheson groaned, nursing the barely hot cup of gas station coffee in her hands. It was one of Jennifer’s addictions and a habit that many of the high school students had picked up.

  “In the day or in the school year?” Grace grinned.

  Raising her right hand with the coffee cup, Jennifer gave a gesture that would have any teacher nearby writing her up if they had seen it.

  Whispering loudly to Grace, Penny brought up the subject that the others had taken to teasing her about. “See, this is why we need a swear jar. Can’t you both act like ladies?”

  “No,” Jennifer stated before taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Delilah teased.

  Deciding to play with fire, she sent a wink and a smile in Will Cooper’s direction. She held back the laughter that threatened to erupt as David glared at Will before trying to pretend as if nothing was wrong. He failed miserably.

  "Who is that perfect creature?" Will grinned, not trying to be quiet.

  "Delilah Davis. Hands off. She's my next door neighbor."

  "Why?" Will looked at David strangely.

  They could all hear David’s growl, "She just is; that's why."

  "She's all yours then; easier access." Naturally Will couldn’t say that without his classic smirk.

  "Rot in hell." Penny closed her eyes at David’s words. The other’s started laughing.

  "Did you see him drop his notebook? Can you believe that he reacted like that?" Delilah laughed as she entered Homeroom with Grace right behind her. Seconds later she stopped, blushing when she realized that the very person that she was just laughing and talking about was sitting in the room. Visually shaking it off, she selected a seat towards the middle of the room near a wall and Grace sat down next to her. The girls continued their whispering and the room slowly started to fill up with students.

  "Good morning, everybody. I’m going take roll before the announcements and then after everything is over with you all will be dismissed to your first period classes. I assume that if you are in here you received the schedules that were mailed out." Mrs. Williams was one of the senior English teachers who tended to bounce around the room as she spoke and brought life into her lectures. Delilah was excited that she would have Mrs. Williams as her English teacher; she might be scatter-brained but she knew her material.

  David couldn’t help but look over occasionally at his neighbor. He saw the mischief twinkling in her eyes. He watched as she humored Candy Dallas, one of the popular and pretty girls, into thinking that she would enjoy the honor of being friends. Moments later, Delilah turned away and refocused on Grace and the girls burst out giggling at an inside joke. Candy looked at her 'cheerleading clones' in bewilderment before looking back at the giggling girls.

  He suddenly wished, and not for the first time, that he had made the same decision three years ago. It was a difficult memory to shake and it reappeared in random, unexpected moments. Like when Mrs. Williams was taking roll.

  "David Carver?" Mrs. Williams called out.

  Shaking his head, David pushed the memory away. "Here." What he didn’t understand was why everybody was looking at him. He didn’t re
alize that his name had been called three times before he snapped out of his memories.

  The announcements were stuff that he had heard millions of times: the football game in a few weeks, cross-country practices starting next week, and finally the announcement of what the school play was going to be and that audition information would be posted next to the theatre classroom in a few days. It was all easy stuff to tune out. A flash of red out of the corner of his eye was tempting to look at, even if he knew that he really couldn’t look at Delilah.

  If he had known that Delilah was having just as hard of a time not looking over at him then he would have smiled and probably would have been even more distracted than before.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The rest of the morning passed much like Delilah’s entrance. People, mostly males, turned to watch Delilah walk down the hallway. She had quickly mastered the art of being seemingly unaware but she was secretly beaming on the inside at all of the new attention.

  Grace shone with the attention, even though it wasn’t directed at her, all because she was proud of the way that Delilah was handling things. She just had to be careful about where she turned her own attention; she didn’t want anybody - even Delilah - aware of her own feelings towards the quarterback or for them to make a big deal about who the mousy girl had a crush on.

  The other pretty girls smiled sweetly before turning away and bad mouthing the very girl that they had previously overlooked. Delilah had already mentally prepared herself to take it all in stride. Her sisters had warned her that it might happen and to not worry about it. “Things will settle down,” they had informed her.

  It was really difficult ignoring all of the staring. Delilah wanted nothing more than to kill her sisters, but Samantha and Charlotte had insisted that Delilah get her nose out of a book and into the bathroom. In that bathroom they had straightened her wavy red hair, applied lip gloss, eye liner, blush, and various other tools of torture that they insisted she learn about and apply to her everyday life. Regardless, she had no intention of following their every scripture.